Michigan ed officials aiming for 2015 rollout of teacher evaluations

The Michigan Department of Education envisions having a new statewide system for conducting teacher effectiveness evaluations in place by the 2015-2016 school year, officials told a legislative panel Wednesday.

The Michigan Council for Educator Effectiveness issued a report earlier this year summarizing potential options to gauge how well teachers are developing students.

The system will gauge both "professional practice" and student growth over each school year, with the professional practice portion of the grade based primarily on classroom observation by administrators.

The state would also pay to train and implement an observation system in local school districts, Michigan Department of Education officials said.